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Merck To Buy Clinical-Stage Biopharma Peloton Therapeutics For More Than $1B

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) announced an agreement Tuesday to acquire the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Peloton Therapeutics for $1.05 billion cash upfront and a further $1.15 billion in if certain regulatory and sales milestones are reached.

The companies said the acquisition is anticipated to close in the third quarter of this year subject to customary conditions and an antitrust waiting period.

Peloton is focused on the development of novel small molecule therapeutic candidates targeting hypoxia-inducible factor-2α for the treatment of patients with cancer.

Merck shares were trading higher by 0.82 percent at $79.53 at the time of publication Tuesday.

“Merck is recognized as a leader in cancer research and shares our commitment to accelerating the development of candidates targeting HIF-2α to help patients with advanced cancers and other diseases,” Peloton CEO John Josey said in a statement.

“We are proud to have advanced PT2977 to this stage of development and believe that Merck is well suited to build upon the progress our company has made."